Moonlight Sunshine
by Caelia Millenart
Summary: Tethi-Esna One Shot. After their first defeat against Chaos, Tethi and Esna are both terrified of what's to come. Yet, Esna's despair is the one thing Tethi would never accept to feel… Before her dearest hurt herself even more, she feels she must act: she must tell Esna how she feels about her, maybe then she will be able to see another smile of the one she loves the most.


**Author notes : Hello! Here is a one shot about a part of the game in Ever Oasis, where Esna is mourning over what she believed was right, and how powerless she actually is when it comes to destroying Chaos. It is also a romantic-oriented adaptation of this one scene. Written in Tethi's point of view… Hope you enjoy **

**Moonlight Vows**

I didn't want to let her with that look in her eyes… Esna couldn't make the Chaos disappear, and is now brooding over what she can really do… She is blaming herself, and now that Nou… Sheuks created the Black Lumite from the three lumites we collected… I cannot go back to sleep.

I went back outside, and spotted Esna, slouching over the root leading inside the great tree… I called for her

« Esna… »

She looked at me, slowly pivoting her head to watch over her arms… She murmured

« I am sorry… People are getting even more afraid of the Chaos because I couldn't do anything… »

I walked close to her; she moved her arms, allowing me to face her

« Don't be sorry, please… »

Her eyes seem to be about to cry, she refrained those tears and pursued

« What if I can not make Chaos disappear? Even more people will be corrupted, and I am the last water spirit… The one who lost to Chaos… And now, even your own brother… He's-

— My brother is no more. »

It looked like her face had been electrocuted; she looked at me with big, round, watery eyes…

« As I said, I stated, My brother is no more. Sheuks is the creature which destroyed Nour's Oasis. It's only you, Chaos, and me. I don't want to let Chaos rule.

— But you just saw that; if we can not do as the spirits told us… All effort will be in vain…

— There is no reason we can't. I believe in you.

— But I just-

— What happened now doesn't make you unable! Please, Esna… Chaos only wants you to believe you are powerless… It feeds itself on these feelings you have now… Don't let it toy with your heart. »

She slowly immerged a bit more of her body, only her face is at my range now, and she is still fidgeting on the root I'm standing on. She doesn't know what to say… And looking at her hurts so much… She looked surprised for a moment

« Tethi… Are you… Why the tears? »

That's what I feel rolling down my cheeks; crystallized feelings, when a blazing fervor from the heart let out every bit of your unconscious, when hidden thoughts or feelings you can't really describe pierce through your mind and force themselves out of your mouth

« I don't want you to hurt yourself, Esna… my voice sounded like bubbles popping without any control, I don't want you to believe you are alone. I don't want you to look like that… Esna, you are strong, you are kind; you may stagger, but you always endure it. I am bounded to you, so I know you can still rise. »

Shyly, I put my hands on her cheeks; gently reaching closer, and putting my head under her chin…

« You know, Esna, being bound to your bright heart; I can't help but fall deeply in love with you… I don't want this brightness to fade away, and I want you to accept the tiniest of gleams ─ mine ─ within yourself… With both of our light, won't we become a shining radiance? »

She put her hands over mine and gently invited me to follow her lead… I jumped off the roots and fell deep underwater…

Waking up in a bubble of water, I saw both the glitter of the moon above the water, and the crude darkness brought by Chaos under the Oasis… Esna appeared in front of the bubble… She looked at me, and her voice seemed to echo into the water

« Don't I look like this? What do you see more? The light is warped, and the darkness remains… How can I be seen as such a radiant person?

— Isn't it the way it is? my voice was ringing into the bubble, Weren't you currently showing these darkness lying inside you? I know this brightness above exists, and I know it can shine even more! Looking down on me, you can also see the darkness; but I know I am partly darkness, and even so… I want to see the light! And when I only look at you this way, you are closer to the light I seek, and I want to see even more of your light! »

… Her heart is full of this very radiance, of this one kindness which shakes me so hard… I want her to understand. I love her…

The bubble popped, but water couldn't hurt me; I am already bounded to a water spirit… Our faces met, and another bound, the purest bound was embraced.

A bond which accepts both Radiance and Darkness. Which blooms when Fire encounters Sparks. A bound which creates many vows; promises to be both the Moon and the Sun of each other.

Our feelings were now the same.


End file.
